Fusion Festival of Hope takes over Britannia Youngstown for the weekend
By Mathew White
Britannia Youngstown — Fusion West Edmonton officially kicked off the three-day “Fusion Hope Festival” Friday afternoon at the Britannia Youngstown community league.
“Building community. Really that’s what it is,” said Jocelyn Hansen, national coordinator with Fusion Canada. “Meeting new people, building relationships and creativity.”
Fusion Canada, which formed in 2002, is an international youth and community organization that has been working in the Britannia Youngstown’ area for the past seven years. Every year the organization puts on two or three festivals in hopes of introducing members and organizations within the community, and at the same time, reclaiming the space.
- Local artist Lori Anne Youngman painting away during the Fusion Hope Festival held at the Britannia-Youngstown community league on Friday, Aug. 5, 2011. The festival runs for the entire weekend and is being put on in an effort to bring the community closer together. Photograph by Mathew White.
“There seems to be a lot of drug deals or unhelpful activities that happen in the park and around the community league,” said Hansen. “So we love to do festivals in the open space and reclaim the space and give people the idea that it is safe and everyone is welcome.”
This weekend’s festival has a theme of “A Hope Story… What Does Hope Look Like to You?” Fittingly, a number of games are being held aimed at “fostering cooperation and building relationships.” Also, local artist Lori Youngman will be on scene painting a few portraits based solely on the vibes she’s getting during the festival. Festival-goers have also been invited to create their own artwork based on how they see hope.
But perhaps the most exciting part of the weekend will be the two world-record attempts.
First, Charles Servizio will be attempting to set the world record for the most push-ups in 24 hours (more than 20,000 pushups) while Youngstown’ resident Darryl Learie will be looking to blow up more than 7,000 balloons in under 24 hours.
“Balloons are fun. Everyone loves balloons,” said Learie, who actually came up with the festival’s hope theme.
“When you do something and it makes people so happy, there’s nothing that compares to it.”
Both men will be starting their world-record attempts Saturday at 3 p.m. and going for a full 24 hours, finishing Sunday at 3 p.m.
“There’s only do or do not,” said Learie. “There’s no try.”
The festival runs the entire weekend, each day from noon until 4 p.m.
